Hello All,

Before I mention my experience, i want to be honest in saying. It was totally my mistake.

So I was visiting a friend and I parked in someone else's personal parking spot. I must have parked for an hour. There was an emergency with my friend and I had to go and see to him. I could neither find a parking spot (blue zone) nor besucher. I parked in 1 of the 4 free but private parking spot.

I came back after an hour or so and found a orange slip. This was made by the guy who owns the spot and asked me to pay 40 CHF to his personal bank account. He also mentions if not paid, he will inform authorities, i assume this is betreibungsamt.

Now once again, I was totally wrong in doing so. It is none of his concern to adjust to my emergency, neither does he know me nor does he know there was an emergency and even if he knew it is not his concern, totally get that.

however, is this normal procedure to decide on what the fine is by an individual and ask me to pay him in his personal bank account rather than report to authorities (whoever that is i.e. police) ?

CHF 40 seems quite reasonable.

Tom

Thanks Tom.

However, can I decide what a fine will be on a private parking space ? do I have such right ?

Authorities won't do anything (as in Police) as (I assume) this was a privately owned parking spot.

He could in theory open Betreibung and you can object it...


Or you can just admit you did wrong and payup - 40chf is a fine for 'overparking' in blue zone... at least was in Winti when I got such fine

No idea, but when I was fined for not setting the timer for a blue spot, it was 40.

Tom

https://www.bussenkatalog.ch/parkbussen

I doubt there is any legal grounds for this claim.
If I were you, I would not pay it. (Even though it is indeed a reasonable amount.)

The guy could have called the police if he had an issue with your car using his private parking space.

Yup. The same in Zug. But I just feel this is being used as an opportunity to earn a quick buck. But if this is normal procedure then I would pay up.

There have been a few instances when someone parked in my parking spot in Bern. The worst I did was leave a note saying, please do not do so. Even if there was a rule that I am free to fine some one, as a personal choice, I wouldnt exercise that.

However, here he is asking/demanding that I pay up like it is a rule/law. And I am a law abiding citizen, but wouldn't want to be taken advantage of. he did not leave a number for me to contact him and I am not able to find his name in local.ch so I could call him.

Again, if it is a law, I will pay up. As I was wrong, but unsure if I have to pay a fine. Because I am wrong doesnt mean I need to be punished outside of the context of normal man's law is all I am trying to say.

Blocking someone's private parking-space? Deadly sin. And I mean it!

Unless there is a plate titled "Richterlicher Beschluss", the owner can not hand out fines.
I doubt he can start a "Betreibung" as he has to prove his claim when he starts the procedure. Not to mention that he has to pay Fr. 50.00 (unless those tariffs have changed, if they have they only went up) to demand the Fr. 40.00.

You could go ring his doorbell, apologize sincerely and hand him 20.00 to show you mean it.
After all, at the prices we pay for parking-lots here, it is a pain in the arse to come home and have some stranger blocking it.

__________________
It Ain’t What You Don’t Know That Gets You Into Trouble. It’s What You Know for Sure That Just Ain’t So

Thank you Sigh. Very helpful. I couldnt see anywhere in this link that a private parking spot can be fined by the parking spot owner.

Thank you Curley,

I agree with you and ofcourse would have been pissed if I was him. I would sincerely apologize to him too.

The reason I started this thread is not about the 40 chf as much as the feeling that I am being taken advantage of. I couldnt find him on google/local.ch to contact him. However, when I am in Zurich in 2 weeks time. I will try to find him and do as you suggested (though it wont be straightforward, it is doable)

Here's the thing - you would have been fined 40 if you had parked elsewhere without paying ( or more if you made a more serious parking 'mistake' ) or if the guy had called the cops. So, net, you haven't really 'lost' any money and you are not being taken advantage of. Yes, the guy is grabbing the opportunity by the short and curlies but is that really at all important?
I would pay and move on.

Unless parking spot was marked with a sign of "Richterlicher Beschluss" and a lot of small print, they cannot fine you. Maybe you can use Streetview to check if you don't remember?

If you think searching for the person's place and ringing on their door will help, I would suspect that people writing you up for parking will not particularly appreciate this.

Nope she would not have. Without a "Richterliche Beschluss" plate which I already mentioned, this would be a "privatrechtliche Angelegenheit" (under private law), the guy would have to "Anzeige erstatten" (have the police file a report and pass it on to court) and court would most definitely dismiss the case as a "Bagatellfall" (petty lawsuit).

Eeem, YES. That is the only way they can.

Hi, do you mean that if Richterlicher Beschluss was on the parking spot then they CAN fine me and if isnt there then they cannot ?

Sorry, my bad.

Yes. They can only fine you if they have the Richterlicher Beschluss. The sign will also include the (max) amount of the fine.

Thank you

You might be right there too. Perhaps I can write a letter of apology and slip it in their postbox.

"Apart from the use of his right to eviction according to ZGB 641 Abs. 2 and ZGB 926 Abs. 2, the landowner should avoid any “vigilante justice”.

The landowner is not entitled to distribute so-called "private fines"."

https://www.auto-recht.ch/autoparkin...uf-privatgrund

Where did you parked your car on that occasion?

That person maybe needed to go somewhere around the block and find paid parking spot until you released his/her. I don't think it is a way to make a quick buck, because I would know that my parking space is used by stranger only when I actually need that parking space.

this thread raises a question.

I regularly visit a friend. To park in the besucher places, he gives me a card that i put behind the windshield. Theoretically I can stay up to 3 hours. I have never stayed more but he told me that the agency hires an external company to check cars and put fines. Are those legal ?